I was reading a blog entry by Matt Walsh, a guy who’s work I highly recommend, about the Boston bombers in which he wrote “(Tsarnaev) is a gutless coward and a murderous rodent. His family came here seeking refuge and they were granted it. He became an American citizen and benefited from the luxuries and liberties of American life. And then, to show his gratitude, he walked through a crowd of innocent people, placed a bag full of explosives near two young children and their mother, and then walked away and detonated it.” This got me to thinking about why and how could this happen in a land so blessed? Then it struck me. America bestowed it’s blessings on the Tsarnaev brothers but asked nothing in return and we’re about to repeat this gift 11 million times over by bestowing amnesty on our illegal population. Actually, pick any number because no one seems to know for sure.

While it’s trite to say freedom isn’t free it’s not inaccurate nor is it ignored without peril. If you’re given something without having to work for it what’s it’s true value? Think about all the gifts you’ve received for Christmas, Chanukah, or your birthdays over the years and what they meant to you. Yeah, you were excited to get that Transformer toy and chances are by the time next Christmas rolled around your beloved Transformer was in pieces in some long-forgotten corner of your closet. A year has passed and you’re now breathlessly anticipating your next new something wrapped up in a shiny box, bound by a pretty ribbon. Contrast that to when you worked evenings and summers to save for you’re first car and the pride you felt for possessing it. You can apply my little mind exercise to any material thing Americans regard as desirable. Freedom, though not as tangible as a Transformer, can be regarded exactly the same.

Tsarnaev brothers (Photo credit: stream47)

The brothers Tsarnaev paid no price to be here. They did nothing we know of that improved their lives or the lives of their neighbors or friends. If the reports are correct they’ve been recipients of the largess of the State since their arrival to our shores. So what value could we reasonably expect them to assign to being free? They emphatically answered that question in the streets of Boston and Watertown with deadly finality.

Freedom, without a price, is nothing. It’s the Transformer long forgotten laying in the closet. Freedom has many enemies as well and they are determined to take it from you. It’s the Occupy Wall Street crowd demanding more of free everything. It’s the gun-grabbers trying to take away your God given rights to self-defense. It’s the Mayor of New York City mandating the size of your drinks. It’s every despotic nation on the face of the Earth who hate us and want our riches for themselves.

Generations of Americans paid the price of Freedom in a variety of ways. The most obvious are those who fought and died in our wars. Less obvious but just as noble are the farmers who feed the nation and the world. The sweatshop seamstress who died at the Triangle Shirt factory. The cops who walk a beat. The factory worker who spent endless mind-numbing hours inserting bolt A onto hole B. It’s the businessman who opened his door each day to hire us or to sell us something or make us something that made our lives better. And it was students who learned the truth about how America was founded and what it promised and demanded in return. They learned that math and science and accounting knowledge allowed them to become the next generation of producers and protectors.

English: Immigrants entering the United States through Ellis Island, the main immigrant entry facility of the United States from 1892 to 1954. Español: Inmigrantes entran a los Estados Unidos a traves de la Isla Ellis, el mayor lugar de entrada a los Estados Unidos entre 1892 y 1954. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Immigrants to America paid a price for freedom. They came here with nothing and worked after facing terrifying trials to reach our shore. They came through Ellis Island and followed the rules. They learned our language while retaining their own. They were assimilated by our culture while they improved society at large by sharing their cultures. They didn’t walk or swim across the Rio Grande under cover of darkness. Or hide in the basements of relatives. They didn’t get free education or health care or EBT cards by a lazy, incompetent government. And they certainly didn’t set off bombs in the streets of our cities. It wasn’t perfect. There have been cases of those that came here have committed heinous acts and it’s not my intent to pretend those events aren’t part of the historical record. But by practically any metric I can think of they peacefully and diligently pursued their dream. They paid a price. They became Americans. And they became free.

So now Congress is going to debate and compromise and do what they do behind closed doors and in the end give away our way of life, our freedom, for free. How will these newly legal immigrants view their gift? And what value can we reasonably expect them assign to being free? And what actions could result? We, the progeny of our immigrant ancestors, must not allow the possibility of having another Boston to the whims of politicians. We must speak up now and, like the generations before us, pay a price. Because freedom isn’t free.